And Then She Was Gone
by haternotalover
Summary: Set sometime in the future. haven't decided how far yet... Clare catches Eli doing something he shouldn't have been doing.
1. Leaving Eli's POV

**Leaving- Eli's POV**

"Clare, please don't go." Eli pleaded. He was on his knees, literally begging.

"No, thank you." Clare replied. _Even when she's leaving me, she's polite. _Eli thought. _What was I thinking?_

Clare threw her clothes into the duffel bag she had in her left hand. When that drawer was empty, she moved on to the next one until the whole dresser was devoid of clothes.

Eli stood in front of the door out of the bedroom they shared. "I'm not letting you leave." He said firmly. His arms were crossed.

"Just get out of my way, Eli." Clare's voice was all business. He could see tears in her eyes, but she wasn't letting them go.

Eli moved out of her way. No reason to make her any angrier. Clare stormed out the door with most of the stuff she had in their apartment. Then she was gone.

Eli sat down on their—_his_ bed and started to cry. These tears weren't silent. They were loud, gut-wrenching sobs. How could he have been so stupid?

Eli cried most of the night before slipping into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning he woke up and dressed for his job at the small publishing firm down the street. He was a zombie, not thinking, not feeling. He walked into the small kitchen and was shocked. Clare had taken all the pictures of them and folded them in half. Now Eli was the only one whose smiling face showed through the glass. _Does she want me to forget about her? Because I'll never be able to. For as long as I live. _

Next to one of his favorite pictures, a candid of Clare and him at the zoo feeding a giraffe, was a diamond ring and a note.

_Eli,_

_You broke my heart. Here's your ring back. Maybe you can give it to _her_ instead._

_Goodbye,_

_Clare_


	2. Leaving Clare's POV

**I felt bad leaving all the readers hanging on a limb, even if it was only for a couple hours so I decided to post the next chapter. Don't expect this to happen all the time. **

**Virtual kisses to everyone who reviewed today! Ya'll literally made my day!**

**Leaving- Clare's POV**

Clare had just headed into the apartment when she heard giggling coming from her and Eli's room down the hall. _Weird…_ She thought and went closer to investigate. She slipped silently to the bedroom and opened the door just a crack.

She gasped out loud. Eli was naked in their bed, with another girl. Eli looked up and met Clare's eyes. That was when she slammed the door and walked out of the apartment. She had grabbed her purse and her coat, and turned off her cell phone. She didn't want to hear Eli's apologetic phone call that she knew would be coming any second and she certainly didn't want to read any of his _I'm so sorry, Clare_ texts.

She walked to the Dot, the one place she could go to think that was walking distance from the apartment.

The bell chimed. "Hey, Peter." She greeted the manager of the Dot. Peter had dated Darcy back before they graduated, but she had left for Kenya. Clare and he were close and she knew she could tell Peter anything.

"What's wrong, Clare?" Peter asked. He could always tell when something was wrong. That was one of the things she liked about him. It was a slow day in the restaurant so he came over and dragged her to a table. They sat across from each other.

"I'm so stupid!" Clare cried. She put her head in her hands and cried. "He's cheating on me, Peter!" She looked up at him, tears filling her eyes. Peter looked sympathetic but didn't say anything. He just let her cry while his arm reached across the table and stroked her hair.

After about ten minutes, Peter left and came back with a medium coffee in hand. "On the house. You look like you need it." He put on the table and sat back down. "Clare."

"What?" She snapped. She didn't mean to be snippy, but her night wasn't exactly going the way she had planned.

"I'm guessing you don't want to stay at your apartment tonight." Clare shook her head sadly. "So, you can stay with me. I'll sleep on the couch." Peter smiled at her and she smiled back. It made Clare happy to know that there were so many people looking out for her.

"Thanks, Peter. I'm going to have to get some stuff from the apartment. What time do you get off?"

Peter just handed her his keys. "Here. Just take these and go whenever you want. I don't get off for another couple hours but you can go over as soon as you want." Peter smiled at her. They both stood up. He had to get back to work and she had some stuff to do at home. Clare reached over and took Peter in a tight hug.

"You have no idea how much this means to me." Clare whispered in his ear. Then she left to go her belongings from the apartment.


	3. Regrets Eli's POV

**A/N: My other story, Where Had They Gone Wrong?, isn't over. I've got a serious case of writer's block on it, so a chapter will be going up today, but then it will be on hiatus until I have some inspiration. I'm also writing another story which should be up this weekend (if i get around to it).**

**Regrets- Eli's POV**

Eli held the note in his hand, his emotions from the night before getting the best of him. He slid down the wall next to the small pantry and began to cry again. The ring he had already put back in its velvet box. He remembered when he proposed to Clare at the Dot just six months ago. They had gone out for their six year anniversary.

They were laughing about the time Clare screamed at the top of her lungs in public. That was also the time Eli realized he was falling for her. And also, it was the first time Eli felt like he was in a good place.

The year and half or so after Julia died was hard. He couldn't accept it at first, but once he did, it wasn't pretty. He smoked pot and got drunk on a daily basis. He started cutting. He wore all black and drove a hearse.

But when he met Clare, Julia didn't matter as much anymore. Of course, he would always love her, but she was more like an afterthought now. Clare was his everything. And he had thrown it all away because of one stupid mistake.

"You know, I thought you were going to kiss me, right then and there." Clare had giggled between words, breathless.

"Yeah, and now look where we are. We've been dating for six years and still going strong. And because of that, I wanted to ask you something." Eli had rummaged around in the pocket of his jeans until he found the little box. He had gotten down on one knee and said the words that would make Clare's heart thud for the next six months. Until he ruined everything.

"Clare Diana Edwards, I love you with all my heart. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. You would make me the happiest man on Earth if… you would be my wife." At that point, Eli opened the box and pulled out the princess cut, one carat ring. He looked up into Clare's eyes to see tears of joy streaming down her face.

"Yes." She whispered; her was voice barely audible over the din of the restaurant. Eli slipped the ring on her left hand. He leaned in for a light kiss on the lips, just enough to tide him over until later.

There was a collective "Aww!" from the diners.

That was one of Eli's fondest memories of Clare and his relationship. She couldn't stop admiring the ring that whole night. And now it was sitting in its box on Clare's nightstand, waiting for her to return and put it back on. But at this point, he wasn't sure that would ever happen.

Eli's phone rang. He scrambled over to the kitchen table where his phone was sitting. He couldn't help but hope that Clare was calling, asking to talk, asking to do _anything_. But of course, it wasn't her. She hated his guts. Eli saw the caller I.D. and thought about ignoring the call. But there was something he needed to say.

"What do you want, Melissa?"


	4. Regrets Clare's POV

**I'm really into this story right now and I guess I have been kind of neglecting my other story "Where Had They Gone Wrong?". I've seen people "taking over" other people's stories before, so I was wondering if anyone wanted to take it over. I just don't have the time to write three stories at the same time (I'm working on a third story now), so if you're interested, pm me and we'll talk.**

**Regrets- Clare's POV**

Peter's apartment was tiny. The kitchen was about half the size of her and Eli's—_Eli's_ kitchen. She had to correct herself. Clare no longer lived with Eli, and they were no longer together. That was that. She would probably love him for a long time, longer than she would like. But they weren't together so she would have to get over him.

The walls were a dark grey and the counter was off white. _How bland…_ Clare thought. She wandered through the hallway until she found what looked like Peter's bedroom. It was very guy-ish with posters of hockey players and football players from America. The bed was a double and looked very plush. It was just plain white- apparently, Peter wasn't into much color- but was soft and filled with down feathers.

Clare sat down and grabbed the remote from the night stand. She began flipping through channels until she landed on a rerun of _The Latest Buzz_. She settled in to watch it, until she realized how similar Eli and one of the characters, Wilder, looked. It was almost creepy. She quickly changed to channel to PBS, something she knew wouldn't have anything that would remind her of _anything_.

She settled into Peter's bed; his sheets were comfortable around her body. She was only wearing shorts and a cotton tank top, so the blankets kept her warm. Clare quickly fell asleep.

She awoke to someone's lips on her forehead. "Eli?" she asked groggily.

"No." someone whispered. "It's Peter." Oh right. She had forgotten what had happened the previous night. Her eyes flicked to the digital clock next to the bed. 3:24.

"You got back late." She said.

"Yeah, I got caught up with inventory." Clare could see his figure shrug in the dark. Suddenly, there was a loud beep. Clare jumped, startled. Then she realized what it was.

"Peter, will you please hand me my bag. I need to check my messages."

Peter responded by placing the bag on her stomach. She sat up and rummaged through, looking for her cell phone. Her fingers closed around the small metal object. She had six new text messages and four new voicemails, all from her contact LOVER. Before reading or listening to anything, she went to her contact list and scrolled down to LOVER. Her fingers quickly changed his name to DO NOT REPLY then got to work deleting.

_Clare plz call me back_

_Clare listen_

_Will u answer?_

_Can we talk?_

With every text she read, her anger was only fueled even more. Then she had an idea.

"Peter? Do you have a girlfriend?" Clare asked slyly.

"No. Why?" Before he could even finish his question, Clare had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled his mouth down to hers. They made out for a while when Clare went to remove her shirt.

"Clare." Peter held her hands before she could move. "Do you really want to do this?" He was breathless and his voice came out in half-formed pants.

"Yeah." She said. "You know, when you and Darcy were dating, I had the biggest crush on you." Who knew she could be so manipulative? Clare had no idea of her powers of persuasion.

"Really?" Peter asked, intrigued. "You know, I always thought you were cute." He whispered in her ear.

That whole night, Peter and Clare did something neither of them thought would _ever _happen.


	5. Gloat Eli's POV

**Yeah… I think this is my least favorite chapter that I've written so far… I suggest you guy review so I can know if it actually does suck as much as I think it does or if I'm completely wrong. Either way: REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW. Also, I don't own Degrassi. If I did, Sean and Emma would be married and they would still be on the show.**

**Gloat- Eli's POV**

Eli's phone rang again, although after his conversation with Melissa he didn't want to talk to anyone. He had eventually gotten to work, and hour late but even being there was an accomplishment for him today. He looked awful and he knew it. His coworkers left him alone in fear of his wrath. Everyone who had ever met Eli knew he had a short temper.

His arm reached out to grab his phone while his eyes didn't stray from the screen of his laptop. Finally, his eyes glanced over at the phone.

"Call from: LOVER" the screen said.

_Clare._

Eli remembered when he and Clare had both changed each other's names in their phones to that. He had thought about changing the name when they broke up, but decided against it. He had to hold onto that last shred of hope that she would come back to him.

His fingers couldn't move faster as they flipped open the phone. "Hello?" he said breathlessly.

"I slept with Peter." She said. It was like a slap in the face.

"You—you _what_?" Eli was in shock. Even though they weren't together, it hurt to know that she had moved on so quickly while he was moping about.

"I. Slept. With. Peter. It's pretty easy to understand, actually." Her tone was bitingly sarcastic, but Eli knew he deserved it.

"And, why are you telling me this?" Normally, this was where Eli would make some sort of sarcastic remark right back but today he was too in shock to think of a witty comeback.

"Well, I just wanted to be honest. You never told me when you slept with anyone but me, but I'm not you." That was a low blow. True, but it hurt.

Then there was a click. Eli pulled his phone back from his ear.

"Call ended." It said.

"Dammit!" Eli said under his breath. It wasn't just because he hadn't even gotten to apologize to Clare, but because he was getting what he deserved. Everything she said, she was right about. And now she was sleeping with Peter.

Eli grabbed his phone from where he had set it on the desk and flipped it open again.

His fingers quickly typed out a message.

To: LOVER

_can we meet somewhere and talk bout this?_

Her response came quickly.

_idk. i have some stuff to do_

_plz. i have something 2 say 2 u_

_fine. The park 3. U no which bench_

**Yeah this definitely sucked but I needed to post it because the stuff that happened was kind of important.**


	6. Gloat Clare's POV

**Gloat- Clare's POV**

"So, I was thinking, maybe we could catch a movie later?" Peter's voice rang through the small apartment. He was probably in the tiny kitchen of his apartment where Clare had stayed the night before. _I should probably go stay with Darcy or something. It won't be good for Peter if I stay any longer, _she thought.

"Um, no thanks. I'm gonna go out for a little bit. Then I have to go get the rest of my stuff from Eli's." Her voice was shaky with guilt. She had never been attracted to Peter in any way, and had just used to him for sex. Although she had broken her abstinence vow a long time ago, the little bit of Christian in her was wracked with guilt for what she had done the night before.

"You sure?" Peter's voice was closer. Soon he appeared in the doorway to his room, where Clare was seated on his bed, tying the laces of her Converse low-tops. "We could go see that new Angelina Jolie movie. The one where—"

"I don't want to go, Peter!" She snapped. "Just let me go. I'll be back to get my stuff later." With that, she grabbed her purse and left a stunned Peter just standing in his room, motionless. He was probably sad, or mad, now that he knew that Clare had just used him for sex. But she didn't really care. He would get over it.

Her feet made a slapping sound as she ran down the hard, metal steps. She pulled her phone out of her front left pocket as she reached the sidewalk.

To: DO NOT ANSWER

_can we meet ur aprtmnt instead? i gotta get sum stuff ne way. Thx_

Eli surprised Clare with how fast he replied. She thought he would be too pissed off about what she told him to type off a response that fast.

_Yeah sure. im home now. U wanna come ovr early?_

_id like that. on my way_

Despite that fact that Eli had cheated on her, Clare couldn't help but smile when she thought about seeing Eli again, even if they had broken up just the night before. Clare _definitely _didn't want to get back together with Eli (well, truthfully she did, but not so soon after he cheated on her), but she was still in love with him. One random hookup (at least she hoped it was random) wasn't going to change the fact that they had six long years of history.

The walk to Eli's wasn't far. In fact, it was only a few blocks from Peter's. Clare knew the way to the apartment as well as the back of her hand. After living there for almost nine months she and Eli had walked all around this side of Toronto on their "urban adventures". Clare was fascinated about Eli's knowledge of little hole-in-the-wall places around the city. After living there for over twenty years, Clare had never heard of these places. But now that she knew they were there, the little music shops and cafes were a part of her daily routine. She stopped quickly into Mad City Coffee to grab a small cappuccino. The coffee warmed up her body and helped her prepare mentally for the crying that was sure to come.

Clare arrived at the building and made her way up the three flights of steps to apartment 206. Her keys jingled in her purse, reminding her that she still was able to get in. But it felt weird now that she wasn't living there. Clare took a deep breath and stuck out her hand and rapped lightly on the door three times.

The door opened within a few seconds as if Eli had been waiting close by the door for her to arrive. "Clare," his voice sounded relieved. "I didn't think you would come." A slow smile stretched across his face. It wasn't his usual smirk, but a genuine smile. His smile faltered just a little as Clare brushed past him and started grabbing some of the things she hadn't gotten the night before.

"Clare, will you please just sit down so we can talk? You can get your stuff later." Clare turned to see Eli already seated on the loveseat. He patted the cushion next to him. Suddenly, Clare collapsed.


	7. Worry Eli's POV

**Sorry for not updating this in a couple days. I've been really busy with school and other stuff. I have seen a lot of you guys adding this story to your Favorites. I hope I don't sound desperate, but I'd love if you would review when you do that. At least tell me why you favoritited so I can write more stuff like that. **

**PS thanks for pointing out that I had the same chapter up twice! Something weird happened in Document Manager and the wrong chapter was uploaded. :)**

**Worry- Eli's POV**

"Clare!" Eli shook Clare's shoulders and her eyes fluttered open.

"What happened?" her voice was sort of groggy, like Eli had just woke her up from a long nap, instead of being passed out for a couple seconds.

"Come on. Just lay down on the couch. I'll get you some water." Eli bustled around the kitchen, quickly filling a glass with water and wetting a washcloth for her forehead. He walked back over to the couch and saw Clare's eye's half open. "Clare?" He began to get worried again.

Her eyes opened, but they were dark, not really awake. Eli noticed she had dark circles under her eyes as well. "Sorry, Eli, I didn't mean to fall asleep. I just didn't get much sleep last night…" She trailed off as her eyelids became heavy again.

"Shh… We can talk later. Just sleep now." Eli's voice was soothing and soon Clare was asleep on the love seat. Eli gently picked her up carried her to the bedroom, laying her on top of the brown comforter. She looked so peaceful sitting there that it actually brought Eli to tears. Not because she was so beautiful, which she obviously was, but because it made him realize what he had ruined when he cheated with Melissa.

Suddenly, his phone chimed, a very shrill sound. He was afraid that the noise would Clare so he quickly walked to the kitchen and picked up his phone from where it was charging on the island.

Call From: Mel

Eli sighed. He really didn't want to talk to Melissa, especially after their last conversation just the day before. But he knew he needed to.

Eli flipped open the phone and put it to his ear. Before he could speak a word, Melissa's voice was in his ear.

"Eli, I'm so glad you answered. I didn't think you would pick up after yesterday." Her voice was relieved. He found it funny that even after what he had said in their last conversation.

"Yeah. Well, we need to talk so I'm kind of glad you called." Eli sat down on of the red vinyl bar stools that stood next to the counter.

"I know. But before you say anything, I just wanted to say that I know you were mad yesterday, but now that Clare's out of the way, we can be together for real. Don't worry, you're forgiven for yesterday. So, I was thinking that we could go see that new Angelina Jolie movie that's out right now. You've heard of it right?" She continued to chatter, probably planning out their entire future together from first real date to growing old and sitting on porch swings together. There was only one problem.

"Melissa, stop." Eli's tone of voice stopped her. Eli almost never used this tone of voice but sometimes, when he needed to, it slipped out. He didn't like to be seen as angry or mean, but, with Melissa, it seemed like he had to just to get her to shut up. "I know you have this whole future planned for us and someday I want to live it. But not with you. I meant what I said yesterday, about Clare. She's my everything. I don't know what kind of guy I would be if I'd never met her. I've been in love with her since my junior year of high school." And when Eli said those words, he realized what had been wrong all along.

"But—But you said you loved me. We're in love, Eli. We both know it!" She was getting hysterical. It was time to end this.

"Melissa, listen. I _thought _I loved you. I thought it was possible to be in love with two people at the same time. But I was wrong. It's always been Clare. And I think I'll be forever indebted to you for helping me realize that today. I'm sorry for the hurt I caused you but I have to repair the relationship that matters now." The sniffles that were coming from Melissa's side of the conversation were unmistakable. Eli did genuinely feel bad for hurting Melissa, but even she had to understand that she would always come second to Clare.

It took a huge mistake to realize it, but Eli now knew that he and Clare needed to get back together. Get married. Spend the rest of their lives together. But she was still asleep and Eli didn't want to wake her.

Instead, he lay down on the couch and turned on a DVRed episode of Teen Mom 2. The show had been off for years but whenever reruns aired, Clare always recorded them. Eli never understood why this show was so appealing to Clare; it was just a bunch of slut girls parading around their hometowns with infants attached to their hips. But of Clare was in to it, then he wanted to be too. It could be another thing for them to talk about over dinner. Why is Jenelle such an idiot? Will Chelsea _ever_ stop whining? Eli actually found himself (although he would never admit it) enjoying the show when Clare emerged from the bedroom scratching her head and looking confused.

Her curls were flatter on one side. Eli looked down only to see that she was wearing some of his old Dead Hand fleece pajama bottoms. Dead Hand hadn't really been around for a couple years but Eli still had those pants because Clare bought them for his 18th birthday.

"Hey, sleepyhead. I see you made yourself comfortable." Eli smirked at her and gestured to the pants she was wearing.

"Oh, yeah. I got cold and even when I got under the covers, my jeans weren't cutting it so I grabbed these." Clare looked down. She seemed embarrassed. Her cheeks were red but that might have just been because she had just woken up. "Sorry, about falling asleep on you there… I didn't get much sleep last night and you know how I get when I don't have my beauty sleep." She tried to lighten the mood. They both laughed uncomfortably. Eli couldn't understand why things had to be so awkward between them.

"Come sit down Clare." She was still standing in the doorway. Eli pulled himself into a sitting position on one cushion and Clare seated herself with her legs crossed Indian style under her.

"So…" she still looked like she would rather be somewhere else. "You had something to say?"


	8. Worry Clare's POV

**Have any of you guys noticed that every Eli/Clare story involving KC makes him mean or abusive or a rapist? I feel a little bad for him…**

**Haha, I know, totally not relevant right? But I felt like I should say something.**

**Worry- Clare's POV**

"Yeah, I did. I just wanted you know that it has always been you. I've been in love with you since I ran over your glasses in the Degrassi parking lot almost seven years ago. And everything we've been through since then has only brought us closer. This may sound cheesy and totally Twilight-ish, but I honestly don't know what kind of guy I would be if I had never met you. If I had never broken your glasses with Morty. If you hadn't become my editing partner. If you hadn't screamed out loud in front of the Dot." Clare blushed when Eli brought up what was perhaps the most embarrassing moment of her high school career, well except singing in front of the entire cafeteria at the beginning of grade nine. "I think one of my favorite moments with you was at Adam's secret party. When we were lying on that hammock, everything just seemed so perfect. And, in that exact moment, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you." Eli finished and leaned back against the arm of the couch, anxiously awaiting Clare's response. Her cheeks were flushed an even deeper shade of red.

"Eli, I'm sure you mean all that stuff now, but what about before? When you and _her_ were together. I doubt you would have said all that stuff a month ago. Or two weeks ago. Or even two days ago! How am I supposed to believe a word you say when you've been lying to me for God _knows_ how long? You know I still love you and last night was really crazy, but I don't think I can be with someone who can so easily lie to the person he supposedly loves." Eli looked surprised by Clare's answer, and Clare was angered by this. He couldn't have possibly expected her to say how much she loved him and how all was forgiven and how about she moves back in, right? Because she wasn't going to say that.

Eli probably hadn't even realized how much Clare had been changed by high school. Although, she was only in grade nine when she and KC had dated, his cheating on her had really messed her up. Even though it was only petty high school drama, Clare had always had trust issues and KC was sort of the last straw. How could she ever trust Eli again when any guy she'd ever dated has cheated on her?

"Oh," Eli was obviously disappointed and he didn't try to hide it as his face fell. "Well, that's all I had to say anyway, so just go when you're ready. If you ever want to talk to me again, give me a call." He stood up and took a step toward the bedroom where Clare had just spent the past hour sleeping.

"Eli, wait." Her arm reached out and her fingers rested on his forearm. Eli's other hand went to touch them, but she pulled away before he could. Instantly, there was a cold spot from where Clare's fingers had been. He touched it. "Look, you know I'm still in love with you. It's impossible to fall out of love in just a day, but at the same time, you really hurt me and it makes me wonder what's going to happen next. Maybe we can just stay friends for a little while. I feel like I need to get to know you again."

"But, Clare, nothing _is_ going to happen. Melissa was the biggest mistake of my life and I'll never be able to forgive myself for that. The only thing I can ask is that _you _forgive me, and give me a second chance. Because I need you Clare." Eli sat down on the floor at her feet. "Please."

"Friends." Clare said. "Friends first. Then we'll see." With that Clare went back into Eli's room to change her back into her own pants and left. Eli lay back on the couch and wept for everything he'd lost.

THE END

**I'm really happy with how this story turned out. It's the first fanfic that I've finished and I love the fact that people actually read the stuff I write. Thanks to all the people that have been reading since I first posted this and to the people who got on the train half way through the ride. I have sequel in mind and will start writing it soon. To everyone who read to the end, I give you a virtual hug and a virtual cookie. Don't you feel special? :)**


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